While summer made itself felt right from the beginning of spring, the sky has been falling on our heads for the past few weeks. The country is being hit by rainstorms and, these days, floods have unfortunately not been rare. Is your home well insured against such a fickle risk ?

Luxembourg home insurance

It is mandatory for all owners or tenants resident in the Grand Duchy, whether they live in a house or an apartment. Home insurance protects the property against destructive events such as storms, fires, or earthquakes, but also against unexpected and unwelcome events, such as theft, water damage, or multimedia equipment accident, for example. For this last one though, you may need to check your coverage with your insurer.

What to do in case of water damage ?

Water damage can take place in several different types of situations: a natural disaster, depending on the vagaries of the weather, a sewage backflow, or any kind of leak. In all cases, you will have to think about cutting off the power supply to the affected area(s), or even across the whole housing unit, depending on the extent of the damage. In the event of a leak, the water supply in question must also be cut off.

If the event involves a large-scale natural disaster, such as those that the weather has been making us experience recently, you may not be able to do much at the time of the event, apart from waiting for the water level to drop. You may then have some damage to assess, but you shouldn’t intervene without first contacting your insurance, which will explain the procedure to follow. A representative will either come on-site to inspect the extent of the damage, or you will be asked to photograph the extent of the losses. In any case, do not intervene without your insurer’s agreement, and do not throw away any of the destroyed or waterlogged objects that you have identified.

Watch out, insurance in Luxembourg doesn’t cover everything !

Following the capricious weather events of the summer of 2016, much of the country had been affected by floods. And yet, the insurance companies did not cover the full extent of the damage because “insurance comes in when the source of the damage is in the home” explained Paul-Charles Origer, of the Insurance and Reinsurance Companies’ Association (ACA – Association des compagnies d’assurance et de reassurance). “Damage caused by water coming from outside is not insured.”

As such, be sure to check your insurance contract: the one specifying “water damage” may not cover a “flood”, two quite distinct terms for insurers! Often, in Luxembourg, it is necessary to subscribe the latter as a separate insurance in its own rights, unlike insurance contracts in France, which generally include it.

That said, if you have been a victim of a flood that has affected your car or appliances, you will certainly be able to use your property and multi-peril insurance.

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